A deep-sea fisherman in Russia has been posting his nightmarish finds on Twitter

We like to say we know less about the ocean here on Earth than we
do about the surface of Mars, because while we have a vague idea
of its overall structure, we’ve only properly seen less than 0.05% of it.

Imagine we discover an alien planet that’s teeming with life, and
we’ve only explored an area the size of Tasmania - that’s what we’re
dealing with when it comes to the ocean. And now, thanks to
this
awesome deep-sea diver, we’re getting a glimpse at what’s
really down there.

Roman
Fedortsov is a deep-sea fisherman based in the port city of
Murmansk in Russia, which looks out over the Barents Sea - a
relatively shallow sea that opens into the Arctic Ocean.

Fishing throughout the coastal Arctic ocean region, all the way
to the coast of Morocco, Fedortsov has been
sharing images of the deep-sea creatures that wander into his
nets.

And let’s just say, you might think you know what an anglerfish looks like, but it’s a whole other
story to see one close-up, sitting in the palm of someone’s hand:

If you're wondering why they're all black, aside from red, it's the best colour to be in the
deep sea if you don't want to get spotted.

These creatures live in the 'twilight zone' of the ocean -
otherwise known as the Mesopelagic - which extends from a depth of 200 to
1,000 metres (roughly 660 to 3,300 feet) below the surface.

Below the Mesopelagic is the bathyal zone, which spans from 1,000 to 4,000
metres deep (3,300 to 13,000 feet), at which point there is zero
sunlight.

That means these guys are dealing with only the tiniest hints of
light penetration, and because black absorbs every wavelength of light without
reflecting any back, they're effectively invisible in their
natural habitat.

This also applies to red-hued deep-sea creatures too, as the US
National Ocean and Atmospheric Administraation (NOAA) explains:

"The black animals absorb all colours of light available, and
the red animals appear black as well; there is no red light to
reflect and their bodies absorb all other available wavelengths
of light. Thus red and black animals predominate."

Before we have a look at some more of these incredible creatures,
let's just put it out there that it sucks that these animals died
because they were caught up in a fisherman's net, and the best
place for them is obviously back safe in their habitat.

But these images give us the opportunity to appreciate and learn
more about life on Earth, and the more excited we are about the
breadth of life that's lurking in the depths of the ocean, the
more likely researchers will be to get the funding they need to
actually go down there and study them.

So here are some more of our favourite pics from Fedortsov,
and you can see them all in his Twitter feed: